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Amazon axes copied content, duplicate Kindle Store ebooks get the boot
If we take a can of Spam and call it "Engadget's precooked pork meat product," you'll still know it's the same mystery meat you ate for lunch, right? Under the idea of "private label rights," authors can do just that: sell their works to others who can rebrand and resell them. This week, Amazon cracked down on duplicate ebooks in its Kindle Store, pulling titles because they "diminish the experience for customers." One copycat who got the smack down called it a "kick in the pants" when his 22 titles got yanked. He did, however, admit he had the swift one coming. Aping authors can expect more book banning Kung Fu as Amazon continues to rid itself of "undifferentiated or barely differentiated versions of e-books." Hi-yah!
Chess engine creator disqualified for cheating, forgot to say thank you
That familiar death-knell typically confined to Bobby Fischer's favorite pastime is taking a very real step outside the chessboard to corner one of its own. In a sweeping decision from the International Computer Games Association (ICGA), chess engine Rybka -- four-time World Computer Chess Championship winner -- and its creator, Vasik Rajlich, have been banned for life from chess' nerd World Cup for the uncredited use of competitor code. Reacting to controversy that the now-deposed winner owed its upper hand to rival engine Fruit's open-source roots, the ICGA assembled a 34-person panel and reverse engineered its way to a guilty sentence. Adding more insult to title-stripping injury, the gaming association has also demanded Rajlich (pictured above) return all trophies and prize money. It's a disheartening turn of events in the otherwise exciting man vs. machine board game battle that could have been easily avoided with a public 'please' and 'thank you.' Checkmate!
Banned apps back from beyond with iCloud
Miss your iDOS emulator, or another app that's been punted from the App Store? CDFXapps noticed that the App Store app on their iOS 5-enabled iPad gave them the option of redownloading the no-longer-available DOS emulation app. This is part of the new iCloud feature, already in place, that lets you re-grab your iTunes purchases if you don't have them locally (very handy if you lose your machine or your hard drive dies). Chris Welch also noticed that the original version of The Big Picture found its way back to his phone. Meanwhile, Engadget spotted the option of redownloading the blocked iTris Tetris clone on an iPhone running iOS 4.3.3, so this particular privilege is not dependent on having the beta installed. This may not work for all apps, however; we tried to redownload a tethering application and couldn't get it. Perhaps there's a category for 'terminated with extreme prejudice.' This is certainly handy if you've accidentally deleted or misplaced an app that you bought before it got pulled -- but chances are this particular loophole will get closed relatively soon. [via MobileCrunch]
Carriers crack down on Android tethering apps, rain on our mobile hotspot parade
Well everybody, it looks like the free ride is over: carriers in the US have started to seriously crack down on Android tethering apps. Head on over to the Android Market site and try to install an app that turns your smartphone into a WiFi hotspot -- there's a pretty good chance you'll be told, "this item is not available on your carrier." We checked out a number of different tethering options and they were all blocked by T-Mobile and AT&T, which isn't entirely new. Verizon has also joined the party and, while it missed at least one that we spotted, we're sure they'll all be gone in short order. Only Sprint has decided against banning such apps... for now. It looks like you might have to finally cough up for that tethering plan you've been desperately trying to avoid.
Reports: Banned Xbox 360s briefly allowed back on Xbox Live, promptly banned again
Reports began swirling Tuesday evening that Xbox Live users with banned Xbox 360 consoles were able to reconnect to Microsoft's online service. Forum users across Xbox.com, Xbox-Scene and NeoGAF claimed to have reconnected banned consoles, though said consoles were unable to download content from Xbox Live, including Marketplace purchases and game updates. As of early this morning, however, Xbox-Scene users are reporting that previously banned consoles have been totally barred from Xbox Live once again. It's unclear just what happened, though Xbox-Scene user DUBiSM noticed Tuesday afternoon that the Xbox Live status page (image above) noted that users could experience problems "creating new Xbox Live accounts, managing those accounts, or recovering an account on a different console." The message has since been changed to warn of Modern Warfare 2 phishing scams. On Twitter, Xbox Live director of policy and enforcement Stephen Toulouse said that all banned consoles are still banned, adding, "you can't trust message boards." For the moment, it would appear that the alleged reconnections were a fluke, though still a fluke that deserves attention given the ongoing drama surrounding the recent attack on Sony's PlayStation Network. We've contacted Microsoft for further comment.
India wants to spy on Nokia users, BlackBerry fans no longer feel special
Poor Nokia, between having to abandon its Symbian baby and hawk anachronistic wares at a Microsoft event, it's had a pretty rough go of it recently. Now India's Ministry of Home Affairs wants to block the launch of the company's new push email service until a monitoring system can be put in place. According to The Economic Times, the Department of Telecommunications is being asked to hold back the service until the intelligence community has a way to spy on messages being sent. RIM recently fought a similar battle with the Indian government, as well as those in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Looks like the two companies share more in common than just their slip from the top of the smartphone heap.
The Lawbringer: WoW launching in Brazil
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Running parallel to the games we love and enjoy is a world full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play? In the near future, Blizzard will be launching a localized World of Warcraft, complete with language localization and specific servers, in Brazil with a Portugeuse version of its signature virtual world. This localization accompanies a potential Japanese release, with servers for both Japan and Brazil, much as there are already US, EU, Oceanic, and Chinese/Taiwanese servers. The World of Warcraft gaming community and Blizzard especially are excited to welcome these two markets into the fold with their own local servers. We're talking all things Brazil this week on The Lawbringer -- well, not everything Brazilian. I think all of the waxing and juijitsu questions are better left for The WoW Insider Show or perhaps The Queue. No, this week is all about the video game climate in Brazil, why Brazil is a huge up-and-coming market for MMOs, how a Portuguese localized version of WoW benefits a huge number of gamers, and the potentially pitfalls of the anti-video game sentiments in the South American powerhouse market.
PlayStation Move ad banned in UK for condoning 'violent behavior'
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned an ad for Sony's Move (and, by association, The Fight: Light's Out) after receiving eight complaints. Brand Republic reports that the watchdog agency said the ad was likely to "condone or encourage violent behavior" and wasn't suitable for children's precious, innocent modern eyes. Two of the complaints claimed the ad might condone racially motivated violence because the player is white and the man being tackled is "black." The ASA said the ad featured men of "slightly different skin tones," but wasn't likely to be interpreted as condoning racist violence. The race card may have been difficult to play on this ad (especially when compared to the infamous Dutch white PSP campaign), but the ASA has been concerned about violence in ads for quite some time. Previous kerfuffles had to do with violent imagery in ads for Kane & Lynch and Condemned 2.
Mafia 2 banned in United Arab Emirates
According to a report from ME Gamers, the United Arab Emirates National Media Council has officially banned the sale of Mafia 2 within its borders. No statement has been formally issued by the NMC regarding the ban, though a report from Arabian Business (via Gamasutra) cites "excessive violence and nudity contained in the game." Mafia 2 joins a laundry list of other titles deemed inappropriate by the UAE's media governance body, including this year's Heavy Rain and Darksiders. That said, reports in the past have pointed out the relative ease with which UAE residents can still pick up various "banned" games. Mafia 2 has been criticized by UNICO National, an Italian American organization, as a "pile of racist nonsense." The game was also criticized by Joystiq for forcing us to spend "way too much time in shallow block-counter-repeat fistfights or behind the wheel of a clunky automobile."
BlackBerry messaging shut down in Saudi Arabia, users feel early withdrawal pains (update: it's back)
We can't say this is exactly a surprise, but we are rather saddened to learn that Saudi Arabia has apparently carried through on its threats to shut down all BlackBerry messaging services functionality due to "security concerns." Users there are reporting that they are no longer able to use their keyboards for the jobs they were intended, forcing them to actually call friends -- with their voices. Saudi Arabia has threatened $1.3 million fines for any wireless provider that does not play nicely and, until those threats are lifted, we're thinking BBM is down for the count out there. Update: Merely hours later, service is reportedly back. Was it all just a tease? A planned outage blown our of proportion? A false sign of the Apocalypse? Only heaven knows.
BlackBerry email, web and messaging to be banned in UAE due to 'security concerns'
Looks like those regulators over in the Middle East don't mess about. Following this week's revelation that the United Arab Emirates' telco overseers weren't happy with being unable to monitor how people were using their BlackBerrys, today we're hearing what their solution to the problem will be: an outright ban. Internet access, email and instant messaging on RIM devices will be blocked in the UAE starting this October -- provided, of course, that the Canadian phone maker doesn't do something in the meantime to appease the authorities. Saudi Arabia is similarly peeved with the BBM service, which it intends to shut down later this month. And just in case you were wondering why all this drama is taking place, the BBC cites a Saudi Telecom board member as admitting it's designed to pressure RIM into releasing users' communication data "when needed." Charming.
UK bans R4 cards, makes Nintendo DS pirating 'double illegal'
While us Yankees are celebrating the one small victory for all that's right and good represented by the recent DMCA jailbreak exception, things are looking a little bleaker for UK gadget-heads this afternoon. London's High Court has ruled that R4 cards, which are used by homebrewers and the occasional no-goodnik game pirate to circumvent security on the Nintendo DS, cannot be sold, advertised, or imported into the UK. According to Joystiq, Nintendo claims they've seized over 100,000 R4 devices in the country since 2009. When asked for a comment, the Queen was all like, "What?"
[Updated] If you cheat in Guild Wars, Dhuum will kill you
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Cheating_in_Guild_Wars_gets_you_banned_by_the_God_of_Death'; No, seriously. Guild Wars players hanging out in Heroes' Ascent this afternoon noticed an interesting sight. Dhuum in all his giant shiny glory was popping in and out of different districts, banning people with a swing of his scythe. What was it all about? ArenaNet announced today that they have banned over 3,700 accounts and disbanded over a dozen guilds in Guild Wars for botting and match manipulation. Design Director James Phinney, addressed the issue in the newest ArenaNet blog post, explaining more about what they're doing. First of all, if you break the User Agreement, you may get banned at any time in the future, it's as simple as that. "...there is no expiration date for breaches of the User Agreement or RoC." Just don't cheat. Second, they plan to take a much more active and public approach to this problem from here on out, so you'll see more in the future. All Guild Wars players need to read through the blog post to understand what's going to happen from here on out, but James' closing statement encompassed it nicely: "For those of you who raised concerns about this issue, we're sorry it took as long as it did to put these changes in place. We should have been faster and more prepared. With your help, we will be more responsive in the future. We are listening, and we are ready to take action." [Update] The Guild Wars team, including Emily Diehl, spent some time in Great Temple of Balthazar this afternoon, and Emily stated: "We checked and have been told that the following mods are OK: KSmod, GWstats, TextMod, and MultiLaunch. NOTE THOUGH: this is the original code of these guys. So we cannot guarantee that future updates of these mods will remain pure. So use caution, and if you're truly unsure, err on the side of caution." Regina chimed in as well on the forums to remind us that while it's okay, you are on your own should anything go wrong. Want to see the Dhuum-slaughter for yourself? Follow along after the jump for a video.
Telecom Egypt loses revenue, government helps by banning international VoIP
a href= http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100323/tc_afp/egyptittelecominternetskype >VoIP calling as a primary reason, and so what do you do if you're a state-run commercial enterprise trying to make a profit? Why, you make the competition illegal of course.
United puts the kibosh on in-flight video chat, one family seriously 'bummed'
It may not be illegal to tuck your kids into bed via iChat while taking advantage of United's in-flight WiFi, but that didn't stop a flight attendant from ending John Battelle's (admittedly precious) use of the service during a flight two days ago. It seems that the airline has a policy that prohibits "two-way devices" from communicating with the ground -- you know, in case some terrorists board the plane and try some shenanigans. Apparently a laptop with WiFi isn't considered a "two-way device," until you throw videoconferencing apps like Skype into the mix. Somehow, it seems, the company missed Apple iChat when blocking ports, thus enabling the whole affair. Let this be a lesson to those of you with children: save the chats for the hotel room or the airport lobby, eh?
Aussie ratings board to discuss an R 18+ rating at April meeting
A meeting in April might bring an end to the Australian video game bans that many gamers there believe to be overly repressive. Local Aussie website Adelaide Now says that the Australian National Classification Scheme could finally take a look at the ratings issue when it meets in April of this year. One widely-supported solution would be to establish an R 18+ classification for games over there -- currently, any games that don't match up to the MA 15+ rating are automatically banned, which leads to story after story of games that are rated for 18+ instead smashed with the banhammer down under. The one spoiler is South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson, who not only opposes the R 18+ rating, but hasn't gotten a very good impression of angry Australian gamers. He'll be at the meeting in April and will have veto power on any measures proposed, so unless he has a change of mind (or gamers who are organizing politically against Atkinson can oust him in an upcoming March election), the meeting in April could end in the same old disappointments for Australian gamers. [Via GamePolitics]
The Lawbringer: Contracts and player bans
Welcome to The Lawbringer, where we investigate the intersection of law and Warcraft and answer such questions as what do you call a raid of lawyers in the Maelstrom. Answer? A good start. Last week, we looked at what is private about our armory profiles. Hint: not much. But, life has a funny way of providing a use for things we thought were annoying. Check out this email we received Saturday: "Two days ago I lost my wedding ring. Of course my wife of 4 years finds it odd and starts to question what I do at night while she is at work. After hours of arguing, I remember about the WoW Armory. I rush to the PC and show her almost minute by minute what I was doing at night. She knows my characters and knew it was my character, and the Armory showed her everything."So remember, guys and dolls, the Armory can convert your spouse's infidelity aggro to regular WoW aggro. Use at your own risk. Today, we're going to look at losing the ability to play WoW, such as with player bans like the one given to Ensidia a few weeks ago. However, just as understanding how one gets into a contract helps in understanding how that contract affects players, learning about how to get out of a contract helps in understanding how bans affect players.
Ensidia temporarily banned for exploits
It looks like Ensidia's 25-man world first on the Lich King will go down with an asterisk next to it, because they've all just received a three-day ban for "Abuse of in-game mechanics or glitches with intent to exploit or cheat in World of Warcraft." The Ensidia blog post reporting this is down as of this writing due to traffic, but you can still view the Google cache. The story is that Ensidia made use of Saronite Bombs to "bypass The Lich King fight mechanics" (Saronite Bombs and similar items were disabled in a hotfix last night). In addition to the temporary ban, all items and achievements they gained from downing Arthas have been revoked. Before the ban (but after the hotfix), Ensidia put up a post claiming that they didn't think the bombs were an exploit; Blizzard obviously isn't buying it. Meanwhile, Muqq, the Ensidia player who posted about the ban, has taken this as an opportunity to quit WoW (and rant a bit at Blizzard about "half-assed encounters"), saying "to ban people when they do not know what's causing the bugs is just a [expletive] joke." Update: It's worth a mention that the language Muqq used at the end of his post is identical (save places and names) to this post by Tigole (scroll to the bottom -- it's the last thing on the page), written of EverQuest in 2002. Be warned, neither of these are safe for work.
DOT bars bus drivers and commercial truckers from texting while driving
It's coming. And soon. Of course, you know darn well we're referring to the day where no human in any nation can text and drive legally, and we're seeing the US Department of Transportation get us one step closer with its latest mandate. Effective immediately, bus drivers and interstate commercial truckers are disallowed from texting while operating a motor vehicle, and should they choose to send that one last SMS anyway, they'll be hit with "civil or criminal fines of up to $2,750." Needless to say, the Advocates for Highway Safety are pretty stoked about the notion, but they confess that this isn't taking things far enough. And for anyone who has been sideswiped by someone special telling someone more special "I LUVRZ U XOXO LOL" while doing 80 on the I-15, well, they'd probably concur.
CrimeCraft banned in Australia
Vogster's MMOFPS CrimeCraft hasn't had the easiest time, and it took another hit last week when it was banned in Australia. The Australian Classification Board refused classification of the game thanks to the availability of Boosts, drugs that give the player character various buffs. The reason given? "In the board's opinion, there is insufficient delineation between the 'fictional drugs' available in game and real-world proscribed drugs." The board elaborated a bit on their decision, pointing out strong similarities to real-world drugs: "In addition, the names of boosts mimic the chemicals and colloquial names of proscribed drugs. Examples include K-Dust, Birth, Chimera, Majoun, Betadyne ResistX and Zymek Stim-Ex, as well as the anabolics Raze and Frenzy." Australia currently does not have any sort of R18+ classification, so a game that would receive that rating is banned. Valve worked around this in October by submitting a censored version of Left 4 Dead 2, so CrimeCraft may not be entirely without hope.
